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You understand the importance of good customer
relationships. After all, without customers, we
wouldn't have jobs. It's as simple as that. Some of
your staff members, though, may place less
importance than you do in these relationships. It
may be time for you to take a leadership role in
improving customer interactions. Essentially,
leaders are associated with change. And, with change
comes fear—primarily a fear of the unknown. Leaders
overcome that fear, in part, by returning to
fundamentals and moving from them to new or improved
behaviors. Notre Dame Football coach Frank Leahy
tried using this approach after a football game his
school lost by a wide margin. He assembled the team
in the locker room afterwards to explain a new
strategy, basic-step by basic-step.
You understand the importance of good customer
relationships. After all, without customers, we
wouldn't have jobs. It's as simple as that. Some of
your staff members, though, may place less
importance than you do in these relationships. It
may be time for you to take a leadership role in
improving customer interactions. Essentially,
leaders are associated with change. And, with change
comes fear, primarily a fear of the unknown. Leaders
overcome that fear, in part, by returning to
fundamentals and moving from them to new or improved
behaviors. Notre Dame Football coach Frank Leahy
tried using this approach after a football game his
school lost by a wide margin. He assembled the team
in the locker room afterwards to explain a new
strategy, basic-step by basic-step.
We’re returning to the fundamentals men, he informed
them as he reached for a nearby object. This is a
football.
One of the linemen, sitting in the back of the room,
was trying to take notes. Wait a minute, Coach, he
implored. Not so fast!
You have a plethora of persuasion tools available to
you as you work to encourage better customer
relations. The football anecdote illustrates two
fundamentals humor.
The following script finds you persuading a staff
member to take more interest in the customer. The
specific strategy is known as the F-R-E-E
Approach. The letters stand for Fundamentals,
Reassurance, and Excellence. Usually, the first
three steps are all that’s needed to persuade. But
if your employee needs extra convincing, you’d
include the final E-step: Experiment.
Script
You Dimitri, it’s time to talk about your #2 love
again---the customer!
Staff Member Again I think I have your speech
memorized from the last time.
You: All kidding aside, Dimitri. You have to spend
less time programming and more time with our
clients. Without them, neither one of us would have
a job. We need to agree on a plan.
Summary
While the dialog begins on a humorous note, you soon
make it clear that it’s an important discussion. The
mention of the word job helps emphasize the
seriousness of your message. And use of the words
need and plan are letting the staff member know this
conversation will not be as casual as the last one
you two had.
Dimitri opens the door to further serious discussion
when he asks, somewhat apprehensively, what you mean
a plan
Fundamentals Strategy Every job has some
things we love doing and others we like less. But as
important as your programming is it’s not enough to
ensure our customers will remain our customers.
Maybe Sam Walton said it best: There is only one
boss. “The customer”. And he can fire
everybody in the company from the chairman on down,
simply by spending his money somewhere else.
You’ve made a strong plea and an effective plea
here, pointing out a fundamental fact that’s all too
often ignored. If your staff member isn’t yet
convinced, though, you’ll need to move on to the
next step in the process of liberating competence.
Reassurance Strategy: I suspect you can do as
well with customer interactions as you do
interacting with hard drives and modems and
keyboards, Dimitri. The way you energize your
project-management team is proof enough for me that
you have the people skills to reach out to our
customers more than you do.
Competence is being liberated here with the strong
recommendation that the staff member do as well with
people as he does with technology. Ideally, he’ll
get the message and find a new medium for displaying
his competence.
Excellence Strategy: I’ve thought about a
couple of things you can do to combine your interest
in computer with the pressing need to satisfy our
customers. You could, for example, set up a series
of demonstrations with each of our large customers,
showing them how your programming advances will
ultimately mean better service and faster cycle
times for them.
If you really expect excellence, you can’t just tell
a staff member to make it happen. You have to show
him how his excellence, coupled with your support,
can be combined to achieve the mission. Be prepared,
though, to offer at least one alternative for
achieving such excellence.
Experiment Strategy: I’m going to make this
easy for you, Dimitri. I’m going to have you attend
a customer focus group that I’ve set up. It’ll only
last an hour but the questions will related to the
technology services we provide. Take good notes,
because I will expect a written report a week after
the meeting. Then, I’d like you to either set up one
of your own or else come up with another strategy
perhaps a survey for reaching out to our customers.
If your staff member has refused to show some
initiative, you’ll have to involve him in some of
your own efforts to make improvements. Here, you’re
inviting him to participate in something you’ve set
up and to report on it. But then, he can either
experiment with such an undertaking by himself or
can set up some other means of improving customer
satisfaction.
Further Considerations
Different people get the point at different points.
If you find that the first step in the F-R-E-E
approach makes the point and the person is
responding positively, you need not go much further
in your persuasion attempts.
Learn to read body language. It’ll help you decide
whether or not you need to proceed to more directive
alternatives with a staff member whose mind needs to
be changed.
Sidebar
What the experts say: The mystery of
excellent customer care was revealed in a full-page
ad in the Wall Street Journal two
decades ago. Beneath a picture of Lee Iacocca ran
these words: There is no great mystery to satisfying
your customer. Build them a quality product and
treat them with respect. It’s that simple. Use
simple exhortations such as these three lines to
persuade our staff to the importance or customer
service or any other mission-related focus.
Sidebar
What the research shows: Anecdotes are more
believable than statistics alone or policy
statements regarding a company’s commitment to
avoiding lay-offs. That was the finding of J. Martin
and M. Powers in a study reported in
Psychological Foundations of Organizational Behavior
(Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman, 1982, pp.
161-168).
Sidebar
What the research shows: Technology has
facilitated opportunities for customers to make
their complaints widely known. The precursors of
cyberspace complaints may well have been the
formation of I hate Eastern Airline clubs of angry
customers that existed for well over 25 years. The
modern equivalent is the story of David Felton, a
25-year-old who set up a web site that became a
gripe forum for those dissatisfied with treatment
they received in a fast-food establishment. The
company bought his web site for an undisclosed
amount an amount he’s planning to use to put himself
through law school! Sometimes, you have to use
true-but-horrid stories like this to validate your
persuasive message.
Dr. Marlene
Caroselli, author of 60 business books and one
e-book “Principled Persuasion”. She is an
international keynote speaker and corporate trainer
for Fortune 100 companies. In 1984, she founded the
Center for Professional Development, an organization
dedicated to helping working adults enhance their
professional skills. She has served as a consultant
to many Fortune 500 companies, government agencies,
and educational institutions. She contributes
frequently to a number of well-known publications
(among them are Stephen Covey’s Excellence
Publications and the National Business Employment
Weekly). For article feedback, contact Marlene at
mccpd@frontiernet.net
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